Skating Away for a Day
by Aviv b
Summary: Just in time for Christmas, a story the whole family can enjoy. Gwen touches something she shouldn't in the archives which has interesting consequences for her and Ianto. This is a Gwen and Ianto friendship fic, no Gwen-bashing here.


**Summary: Gwen touches something she shouldn't which has interesting consequences for her and Ianto (this is NOT a Gwen bashing fic).**

Picture may be found at: http:/ artwork_avivb. livejournal. com/ 6463. html (remove the spaces)

And for an 'adult' Christmas experience, there's **It Was the Worst of Times **- It's the worst Christmas ever at Gwen & Rhys' flat. Come join the hilarity of a drunken, stoner, naked, burning down the house kind of evening. It's Chapter 36 and 37 of Ianto's Journey. It was written as a standalone so you don't have to have read the rest of IJ to enjoy. And who doesn't enjoy nearly naked Torchwood?

And comments - would love comments on this story (and the IJ story).

* * *

A week before Christmas, Ianto and Gwen went down into the archives to retrieve the Christmas decorations for the Hub. Ianto remembered exactly where he stored the aluminum tree, decorations and garland. There was also some Christmas party ware, plastic Santa plates and a snowman pitcher stored nearby. As he headed over to the shelves where everything was kept, Gwen wandered over to the 'C' shelves in the main part of the archives.

She frowned as she looked for the Christmas decorations. And then she spotted it, the most charming snow globe she had ever seen. Large, almost eight inches in diameter, a young man and woman were poised on skates looking like they were having the time of their lives. The man looked lovingly at the woman, their cheeks were rosy from the cold; she couldn't believe the detail on the piece. She laughed to herself, the man and women were very typically Welsh, they could be her and Ianto's cousins dressed up in 1940s clothing and hairstyles.

It was probably a collectible and worth a small fortune. Gwen wondered how Torchwood had acquired it and whether they just utilized it as a Christmas decoration without understanding its value.

As she looked for a manufacturer's mark she noticed a key on one side. It played music too!

"Ianto, where are you? I found one of the Christmas decorations," she said as she began to turn the key.

Ianto came out of a side room his arms filled with garland and parts to the aluminum tree. He could barely see Gwen as he spoke. "What? What did you find, the decorations are…"

The Skaters Waltz began to play and Ianto suddenly dropped all his decorations and ran toward Gwen. "Don't shake, don't shake…"

Too late. Gwen gave the globe a good shake and watched as the crystal snow swirled around. Just as Ianto began to grab the globe away, Gwen whispered, "It would be so nice to go skating, wouldn't it Ianto?"

Before he could stop himself he thought, '_yeah, that would be nice.' _

'No, no I don't want…"

**POOF!**

He looked around and saw that it was snowing rather hard. And while he was dressed for the outdoors with his red muffler and wool coat and matching earmuffs, he wasn't really bundled up enough for a blizzard. And where was Gwen? Oh there she was, walking over with hot chocolate. She was wearing a blue wool coat with a matching tam over a smart green wool dress. Not her usual work attire at all.

"Looks like the wind might be tapering off, want to take a spin or two after we finish the cocoa."

"Why not, we're already cold, and dressed for skating; it seems a shame to not at least take a few turns around the pond."

So they finished their cocoa, put on their skates and stepped onto the ice. Gwen was right, Ianto thought, the wind really had died down a bit. A light sprinkle of snow was falling as they began to skate. A sound system was playing "Skaters Waltz," and they skated in time with the music. They continued to skate for a long time, neither of them feeling tired. Something about the whole situation seemed a little odd, but it also felt magical. He had never skated so well before, and Gwen, she was so beautiful and graceful on the ice that it brought tears to Ianto's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked.

"Nothing, I just feel so at peace skating with you. I didn't know you could skate so well. Hell, I didn't know I could either."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I haven't skated since I was a little girl, and I don't remember being very good at it."

"I played a little ice hockey as a kid, but it must be like riding a bicycle. Once you learn the skill your brain remembers it even if you haven't done it for a long time."

Both of them smiled and shrugged and continued skating. They finally stopped realizing that hours had passed and they still weren't tired. As they stood by the side of the pond it suddenly went quiet.

"Well that's odd; they've turned to music off."

"And it's stopped snowing. It doesn't seem that late, but maybe they're shutting down for the day."

They both felt the ground shift and then everything began to distort and swirl around them.

"What's happening?" Gwen shouted.

"Hold on," Ianto yelled grabbing Gwen by the hand.

**POOF!**

They were back in the Hub. They looked at each other and at the globe, and then back at each other.

"Was that real?"

"I think so," Ianto replied raising one eyebrow.

"I think I'll just go put this back on the shelf," Gwen smiled, "without shaking it or making any wishes."

"Good idea…I wonder how long…why that's impossible."

"What?"

"According to my watch, it's been less than ten minutes…" Ianto's voice drifted off in confusion.

"That must be how long it took the snow to settle in the globe."

"I'll have to check out this artifact when I have more time. We'd better get back before we're missed."

As it turned out, Jack was just entering the archives as they began to pick up the fallen decorations.

"I was beginning to get worried. I called down and tried to reach you on your coms, but couldn't get a connection," Jack explained.

"Well the Christmas stuff is off in a side room. Must be a dead spot reception-wise," Ianto quickly replied.

Ianto turned a bit red when he saw Jack staring at the tree and garland on the floor.

"My fault," Gwen said. "I startled Ianto and he dropped some of the decorations. We were just checking to see if anything was broken."

Jack would have been a bit more convinced if he hadn't noticed the few snowflakes on their heads and their red cheeks when he first came down.

"Ok kids; let's get this stuff upstairs before someone has a serious accident."

"We still have to get the party ware," Ianto mentioned, "and the rest of the decorations."

"I'll get them….don't worry I know where they are…and I won't touch anything I shouldn't" he said winking at Gwen and Ianto.

After locating the plates and the pitcher as well as the box of glass ornaments, he took a quick look around the archives and smiled.

'_Yeah, that's what I thought,' _he said taking the snow globe in his hands._ 'They found the Wish-maker the Doctor made for Tiny Tim. Poor lad, all he ever wanted to do was go skating, but he couldn't. So the Doctor made him the special globe so he could skate whenever he wanted.'_

Looking at the clothing the skaters were wearing, Jack snorted. '_Didn't exactly get the fashions of the time period right, and the music is a bit ahead of its time; just amazing that a Time Lord could be so careless with the timeline.'_ Jack shook his head in amusement.

As he put the globe back on the shelf, Jack tried to remember how it had come to be stored in the Cardiff Archives. He knew it had been here quite some time as the faces of the skaters had been the images of a young pair of Torchwood co-workers from the late 1940s. They too had been a little curious about the globe.

He wasn't sure but he thought maybe Charles Dickens, who was a great friend of the Doctor's, had given it back to him after Tiny Tim's death. After all, it was Dickens who told the Doctor had learned about Tim in the first place. Jack sighed. Tim lived into his forties when the TB that had withered his leg had reasserted itself and killed him. Still, Tim had married and had two children which was a lot more than anyone thought possible at the time of his birth.

'_Well no harm done this time,' Jack _thought with relief.

And as he headed back up to the main area of the Hub he smiled knowing that now Ianto and Gwen's likenesses would be in the globe until another pair of employees got a little too curious.

And if the toast he made on Christmas Eve seemed a bit odd to everyone else he didn't care. He'd been thinking about it all week.

"Here's to all of us at Torchwood for another successful year. And here's to our friends and loved ones far and near." Jack hesitated and then spoke quietly, "And here's to Tiny Tim, now gone but beloved by many. And in his words, Merry Christmas, G-d bless us every one."


End file.
